Amazon Pauses Huge Development Plans in Seattle Over Tax Plan

www.nytimes.com—In an unusually public spat, Amazon is rethinking some building projects in Seattle because of a new tax being considered by the City Council.

'Tax Amazon': Seattle passes plan for corporate wealth tax to fund housing. City leaders unite behind plan to charge big businesses per worker and divert those funds to housing and homeless services
A parade of hardhat union workers and threats from hometown-behemoth Amazon did not stop Seattle leaders from passing on Monday a “head tax” meant to fund housing projects and homeless services.
A watered-down version of the tax, which will charge the city’s largest employees $275-per-worker annually, is now expected to be enacted by Seattle’s mayor, Jenny Durkan. The tax...

Starbucks took the Seattle City Council to task on Tuesday after Monday's passage of a tax bill that will cost the coffee giant and other big businesses like Amazon millions. - starbucks | Big Government

The tyranny of local government was on full display this week. The culprits are some greedy members of the Seattle City Council. Backed by their union friends, they just voted to impose a "head tax" on large employers, such as Amazon and Starbucks. The real victims, of course, will be the companies' employees.
Thanks to Seattle's many thriving businesses, its revenue base has been growing much faster than its population. Unfortunately, the City Council is doing what it does best and, rather than...

Seattle's City Council passed a new tax Monday. It will charge big companies $275 for every employee.
The "head" tax is supposed to fund housing for the homeless. Supporters of the tax chanted "Housing is a human right!" at a protest lead by Councilwoman Ksharma Sawant, a member of the Socialist Alternative party.
Seattle homelessness has doubled in the last 8 years. Politicians blame a shortage of "affordable" housing, but John Stossel says that the politicians' own bad policies helped create...

A controversial proposal that will tax big businesses in Seattle to alleviate the city's homelessness and affordable housing problems was approved Monday.
The Seattle City Council passed it unanimously in a 9-0 vote.
The final package, however, is almost half the size of the original proposal, which never garnered a veto-proof majority on the council. It was publicly opposed by Amazon -- the city's largest private sector employer -- and 131 other businesses.
The newly passed ordinance, which...